Ellis Ross notes of his last Budget Debate speech in the Legislature, exploring themes of Government/Indigenous issues

Skeena MLA Ellis Ross spoke in response to the BC Budget on Monday, first taking note that his presentation to the Legislature would mark his last such speech in the Chamber.

The MLA announced earlier this year his plans to contest the next Federal Election and thus won't be standing for re-election provincially in the fall BC election.

His review for the Chamber touched on some personal reminiscences, along with the work of the Legislature on Indigenous themes during his time in the Chamber.

It's an honour to get up for what will be my last budget speech in the Legislature. It's been an interesting seven years. 

But it's an amazing time to be here, especially given where I come from. I come from Kitamaat Village, a small reserve on the west coast of British Columbia where I still live today. 

And really, if you look at my life, and you look at the decisions that I made over my lifetime, I really shouldn't be here. I should be in prison, or I should be on the streets of Vancouver, Prince George or Terrace, or maybe even deceased — just based on my lifestyle. 

This goes for a lot of First Nations all across B.C. and Canada. 

It's well known that it's been called Canada's shame in terms of where First Nations find themselves on the economic scale.

The Skeena MLA then spoke of Indigenous relations in British Columbia, as well as to some of the work of the Haisla in developing their resources and some of the lessons he learned along the way from those times.

Contrary to popular opinion, I actually opposed resource development based on the degradation of my territory for the last 60 years — forestry, aluminum smelter, pulp and paper smelter, even the actions of the local municipality damming up salmon creeks and backfilling salmon creeks and filling in salmon spawning grounds and  filling in salmon spawning grounds and destroying the eulachon run in Kitimat River. 

But the more I read into what was really going on in terms of society, in terms of the 20th century and 21st century, the more I learned that the narrative that I had followed for so long was actually part of the reason my band was stuck in poverty.

In fact, a lot of what I learned that I use here in the Legislature on a daily basis was my eight years as an elected councillor and six years as a chief councillor, especially governance. 

And governance is not mandatory reading for a council, but when you're talking about self-determination and self-governance, I felt it was up to me to actually learn more what governance actually meant.

Mr. Ross addressed a number of themes in the presentation, from concerns as to how the NDP as amassing debt towards its policies and how unsustainable that spending is. 

He noted of the current debate over the NDP government's handling of its recently suspended Land Use proposal and how it served to divide the province.

When we're talking about permits, First Nations reconciliation and basically the society, is it any wonder that the land management amendments that were actually proposed just this past month were actually opposed not only by certain groups but the citizens of B.C.? 

Nobody understood what it was about. Now, in terms of the comments that were made, in terms of how people were feeling in terms of their anxiety, members of this House have called the comments despicable and dog-whistle politics. 

Well, I made those comments as well, and I am well versed in Aboriginal rights and title case law. What I found was a very secretive land management proposal that was causing division in our society. 

I'm sure the NDP government got emails asking: "What are these land management amendments? What does this mean to my private property? What does this mean to my business?" Because, this side of the House, we got lots. 

No? Nobody got those emails? I guess it was just opposition. Okay.

As well the Skeena MLA outlined how he views the government is going backwards when it comes to addressing Indigenous issues.

I can't believe the NDP government has taken us back 20 years. This is the whole reason why we went to court over 40 years — to get rid of this colonialist type treatment of First Nations people, and we did it. 

From 2004 to 2017, there was peace in the woods, because of the forest and range group, because of LNG, because of mining. Everybody at that table was working along together to achieve one goal. 

Everybody succeeds, First Nations and non-First Nations alike. And the B.C. government? You collect the rewards in terms of the revenues and the taxes flowing to your coffers.

As he noted as to how the Government is ignoring a an important concern across Northern BC from the 2024 Budget. 

In terms of First Nations, because that's all I hear in this place for the last seven years, we didn't hear too much about detox facilities in relation to First Nations. 

Specifically the First Nations health alliance in Terrace, who put together a well-thought-out budget to acquire a piece of property and start to deliver addictions treatments for natives and non-natives alike in the northwest, including Prince Rupert. 

They got rejected by this government. Even though this government talked about UNDRIP, partnership with First Nations, drug crisis, death crisis, the representatives of that group came to this Legislature, and they actually met in the Hall of Honour with all the ministers who loved this idea, and they got rejected again.

Well, it's not in the 2024 budget. 

And we know the option for Terrace and Prince Rupert and Kitimat is to travel seven hours to Prince George for the nearest detox facility, on a highway that's pretty sketchy during the winter. 

If you're lucky to get in, you've got six months that you've got to wait. No mention of this in the budget, after all that talk about UNDRIP and partnerships. We know it's a solution. We know it's a solution that has been put forward by First Nations. 

And yet it got rejected. I think this is the third time it got rejected. 

How can it be a crisis if this government is not willing to work with First Nations on something that First Nations are well acquainted with: addictions, whether it be alcohol or drugs?

Towards the theme of addressing addiction issues, the MLA noted of how in his home community of Kitamaat, the opportunity of economic development has made a significant change there.

It's just a fact of life with First Nations. But I was born on reserve. When I got into council, our big issue was trying to deal with alcoholism, and we didn't do a good job. 

Other nations did. They set up treatment facilities. 

They actually banned alcohol from their villages. We set up a bunch of programs, but none of them really worked, especially for a guy like me. Where I'm not going to listen to anybody. I'm just going to do whatever I want, even if it impacts me negatively. 

But the one thing that did work wasn't our programs, wasn't our funding. 

It was bringing in a full onslaught of jobs, training and economic activity through forestry, to begin with, and mining a little bit more.  But LNG really took us to the next level. 

In fact, if you come to my community, we no longer have house parties. This is not because of a hotline that we developed. It's not because of a program. 

It's because economic activity for the next generation, for some reason, gave them a different path.

The conclusion to his final Budget review, covered a range of topics and areas where he would like to see the BC NDP government examine how they are moving forward, whether from Site C development to addressing concerns from Indigenous Nations on Vancouver island.

You can review the full text of his comments here, the Video of his presentation to the Chamber is availbe from the Legislature Archive here. Mr. Ross begins his commentary at the 4:20 mark of the session.

More notes from the BC Legislature can be reviewed here.